


Let the Wind Blow Low

by Hokuto



Category: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Singing, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-14 21:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19281427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hokuto/pseuds/Hokuto
Summary: Coda to "Adam Raised a Cain."





	Let the Wind Blow Low

**Author's Note:**

  * For [weakinteraction](https://archiveofourown.org/users/weakinteraction/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy this late little treat! I loved your prompts for this fandom.

Catherine Weaver, mother of none, had two children; and, contrary to expectations, the human one was proving the less troublesome.

Both of them were safe and occupied in the basement, singing Savannah's song together as Savannah kicked her feet happily. Catherine Weaver closed the door softly - John Henry would be aware of her observation and departure, of course, but there was no need to disturb Savannah. There was a great deal of work to be done and very little time to do it in, but rather than attend to it, Catherine Weaver found an empty single-occupancy bathroom and locked the door. She inspected her throat in the mirror.

_You're not a boy. And you can't sing._

False. She could reproduce any voice she had ever heard, male or female, as well as a wide variety of sounds impossible for humans. The accuracy of such reproduction tended to unnerve humans, however, and certainly would frighten Savannah. And she did not have any videos or recordings of Catherine Weaver imitating other people to gauge the original's skill at it. As for singing...

She selected a middle C, opened her mouth, and produced the correct note in a reasonably pleasing tone. So, not a fault in the original's vocal cords. Perhaps it had been tone deafness, or the anxiety colloquially known as "stage fright." Again, she had no videos to rule out or confirm theories.

Someone knocked on the bathroom door. She picked a male voice at random and said, "Go away!"

John Henry had noticed that she hadn't specified Savannah's survival as required for his own. Unsurprising; he was very perceptive. But what he would do with that information, what he would make of it...

Savannah had told her what he'd done at the house. The good work of James Ellison at play, presumably, but how deep did it run? At what point would he choose self-preservation over a human life, and would it matter _which_ human's life was at risk? That was an interesting variable to introduce, and she had not even done it on purpose; it had been Savannah, lonely and eager for companionship of any sort.

Another knock. She said, "Get lost! I'm sick in here!" in the same male voice and heard the patter of feet disappearing down the hall.

Also interesting: Savannah had no fear of John Henry. She was unaware of the body's bloody history, of course, but she had the same ignorance of Catherine Weaver's, and that had not stopped her fear. What was the cause of the difference in reaction? Most likely it was simply that Savannah had had no previous frame of behavioral reference for John Henry as opposed to her own mother.

Catherine Weaver tapped the side of her neck thoughtfully and sang, in John Henry's stolen voice, "I went down to London Town, to have a little fun in the Underground." No, that wouldn't do at all. Savannah had made her position quite clear. It would be suspicious for Catherine Weaver to suddenly be able to sing, even if she deliberately did not do so perfectly. She should continue to restrict herself to the imitations of human touch she had been introducing; it was proving an effective strategy. A shame about the singing, however. It would have been much easier for her.

An AI valuing a human's life and taking action to save it without specific orders to do so. That would change the future, for certain, and Catherine Weaver smiled, very briefly, at her reflection before she left the bathroom to deal with work.


End file.
